1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a business billing management process or package intended for charging for Internet access on a “pay-as-you-go” basis. More specifically, the billing package (or modules) captures all web-based transactions involving browsing pages for content or purchasing materials and/or products on the Internet. This pay-as-you-go handling is based on both a time period in cyberspace for viewing and the materials and/or products selected for download to the users chosen device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Access into the Internet and user usage of domains and web sites by any means are currently free from any toll charges. Methods and systems for ordering merchandise from a remote terminal, as well as devices and systems for handling associated monetary transactions on the Internet and other communications networks, are known.
The prior art methods and systems for ordering merchandise from a remote terminal have focused on paying for only the goods ordered on line. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,858 issued on Mar. 29, 1988 to Schlafly, as well as WIPO Patent Document No. WO 85/02700 issued on Jun. 20, 1985, are directed to a pocket size data terminal and system for placing orders telephonically via a local processing center (LPC). Orders for goods or services are accumulated in the terminal and sent to the local processing center (LPC) in a short burst. A personal identification code is used for security.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,155, issued on Jan. 8, 1991 to Geier et al., discusses a data terminal for ordering goods or services from a supplier. The terminal is part of an order entry system having catalog assistance, and is primarily used for product selection, inventory checking and ordering assistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,268, issued on May 7, 1996 to Yoda, discloses a method and system for ordering products. A sensor detects a customer's size and a local computer system provides this sizing information to a remote computer system. The remote system provides fitting, availability and inventory information back to the local computer system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,490, issued on Jun. 18, 1996 to Hill, outlines an electronic catalog system and method. This invention deals primarily with availability, data updating and security (determining pirated accessing software).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,110, issued on Sep. 2, 1997 to Green et al., discloses a remote ordering system that allows a users to construct one or more order lists in a local device (computer). The local device queries a remote device for updating, while still maintaining a user readable local order list.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,681, issued on Apr. 28, 1998 to Levine et al., teaches the concept of a stateless shopping cart for the web. This invention deals mainly with displaying and selecting products or services via “shopping cart fields” and “shopping page files” that are managed at the client's station
Devices and systems for handling monetary transactions on the Internet and other communications networks, have been the subject of prior patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,585, issued on Dec. 12, 1995 to Bush, discloses a transactional processing system which allows for real-time authorization of payments for a plurality of products and services made available to individual computerized subscribers by a transmitting source (“a cable, telephone company, microwave, TVRO or DBS operator”). This system handles product or service selection, multiple vendors, billing, inventory checking and security using an electrically erasable Subscriber ID.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,913, issued on Apr. 16, 1996 to Yamamoto et al., describes an electronic dealing system which performs foreign exchange transactions among banks and/or brokers by matching terms of sale and terms of purchase.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,132, issued on Nov. 25, 1997 to Hogan, describes a system and method for conducting cashless transactions on a computer network such as the Internet. The invention deals primarily with monetary transactions, specifically in the form of various methods of extending credit over the Internet without the use of a central computer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,163, issued on Mar. 10, 1998 to Bezos involves a secure method for communicating credit card data when placing an order on a non-secure network. The method uses a sub-set of the credit card number as a verification code.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. The prior art systems fail to provide a complete billing management package. That is, one that can handle all aspects of Internet access toll charges, billing for time spent (pay-as-you-go) in cyberspace (or a specific domain). Thus a billing management package for charging for Internet access and web page utilization solving the aforementioned problems is desired.